Top 10 Things That Dont Exist Anymore As Of 2023
#10: Sierra Mist
Pepsi’s answer to Sprite and 7Up, Sierra Mist was a lemon lime drink introduced back in 1999. Was, being the operative word here. Suffice to say, Sierra Mist simply couldn’t compete with its juggernaut rivals. It certainly had a strong run, sponsoring Major League Soccer and attaining great popularity with its “Mist Takes” series of commercials starring the likes of Kathy Griffin and Tracy Morgan. A ton of variants were also introduced, including orange and cranberry flavors. But Sierra Mist went flat in the crowded lemon lime market, and Pepsi decided to pour it out. It was officially discontinued in January 2023, being replaced by a drink called Starry.
#9: MagSafe Battery Packs
Apple is always progressing, and in 2020 they introduced a wireless phone charger called the MagSafe. Coming in different varieties and shapes, the MagSafe magnetically attaches to the back of the phone and charges it without the use of cables. One year after its introduction, Apple introduced the MagSafe Battery Pack, a small brick that was charged via a Lightning port. Well, this didn’t last very long. The MagSafe Battery Pack was in production for just two years before it was discontinued in September 2023. Owing to a recent mandate from the European Council, Apple will drop Lightning in favor of a universal USB-C, thereby making the Lightning-powered Battery Pack obsolete.
#8: Maestro Cards
Introduced back in 1991, Maestro is a brand of debit cards overseen by Mastercard. Unlike the parent company’s signature use of red, yellow, and orange, the color scheme of Maestro used a far colder red, blue, and purple. Despite being around since the early ‘90s, Maestro is slowly being phased out around the world. China stopped issuing Maestro cards in 2016. But Maestro took its biggest blow on July 1, 2023, when Mastercard removed Maestro from the entire European market. According to one Mastercard representative, the Maestro was out-of-date and incompatible with modern banking needs.
#7: Lilt
The soft drink market is clearly ferocious. 2023 not only saw the end of Sierra Mist, but a European drink called Lilt. Manufactured by The Coca-Cola Company, Lilt was introduced back in 1975 with the slogan “totally tropical taste.” Fitting, seeing as how the original concoction was a pineapple-grapefruit blend. New flavors were introduced throughout the years, including mango and mandarin and banana and peach. The popularity of the brand was also bolstered with the help of some great marketing, featuring characters like “The Lilt Ladies” and “The Lilt Man.” Unfortunately, neither were enough to keep the drink fizzing, and it was discontinued in February 2023. However, the flavor can still be found in Fanta Pineapple & Grapefruit, into which Lilt was rebranded.
#6: Google Stadia
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There’s no getting around it - Google Stadia was a mess from the start. A gaming service meant to compete with PlayStation Plus and Xbox Cloud Gaming, Stadia was a huge disappointment upon release in 2019. Reviews were not favorable, with most singling out the lack of features and good games - which, you know, is important for a video game service. They also never developed in-house games, despite a promise to do so. Stadia Games and Entertainment was shut down in February 2021, and Stadia itself soon followed. Without prior warning, Google announced in September 2022 that they would be ending support for Stadia, and it was officially discontinued the following January.
#5: Gas
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The social media market is a tough nut to crack. It seems like the behemoths are simply unbeatable, but then a new app like TikTok comes along and completely decimates our preconceived notions. That’s what Gas was hoping to do. And for a while, it did. Geared towards high schoolers, Gas allowed its users to anonymously vote in polls regarding their classmates. These were complimentary in nature, and the winner was “gassed up” - hence the name. Gas was enormously successful upon release, even beating TikTok to become the most downloaded app in October 2022. But it quickly ran out of gas, and service was ended in November 2023 owing to a lack of users.
#4: Apollo
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Just as 2023 was a bad year for soft drinks, so too was it a bad year for social media apps. Independently created by an Apple intern named Christian Selig, Apollo was a third party app that allowed iOS users to access Reddit. The app was universally praised, being named an “editors’ choice” and landing top spots on various “best Reddit apps” lists. Things went swimmingly until April 2023, when Reddit announced that they would begin charging for its application programming interface. Selig quickly announced that he was not able to afford the charges, which could balloon up to $20 million a year. As a result, the app was shut down on June 30 amidst a prolonged site-wide protest.
#3: Windows 8.1
Operating systems are a fickle thing. As technology expands, so too does the software that controls it. And like all things tech, older options are eventually made obsolete, being unable to provide the growing needs of the consumer. So we’ll miss you Windows 8.1. Released back in 2013, this operating system was quickly overtaken by Windows 10, which was unveiled less than two years later. 8.1 was a bit of a mess, desperately trying to fix the issues that 8 had introduced. However, it still had a healthy run of nine solid years. Alas, 8.1 finally reached the end of support in January 2023, meaning it would no longer be given software or security updates.
#2: The Grimace Shake
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Well Grimace Shake, you didn’t last long, but you left behind one heck of a legacy. Created to celebrate Grimace’s birthday, the popular milkshake was berry-flavored and a distinct shade of purple, which obviously mirrored the character it was celebrating. This was always meant to be a limited time promotion, and it ended up running for less than a month. Of course, its brief time on this Earth was greatly magnified by the popular TikTok trend, which showed people drinking the shake. Why? Because it’s funny. Despite the wild success of the Grimace Shake, the promotion was not extended and it was taken off the McDonald’s menu on its allotted date of July 9.
#1: The iPod
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May 10, 2022. A historic day for Apple, and on a grander scale, technology. It was then that, after more than twenty years, the iPod was finally officially discontinued. This amazing device went through some major alterations throughout its years. The first contained a monochrome LCD screen, the iconic click wheel, and the slogan “1,000 songs in your pocket.” And then eventually came the iPod Touch. Alas, all good things must come to an end. Apple’s standalone music players were made obsolete in 2017 with the removal of Nano and Shuffle, and the greater iPod line was taken out of circulation with the Touch. The end of an era, indeed. Do you still have any of these objects, or have you let them go? Let us know in the comments below!
